Device for winding a plurality of lines at relatively irregular speeds about a common shaft



Feb. 10, 1948.

E. s. KNIGHT 1 ,737- DEVICE FOR WINDING A PLURALITY OF LINES AT RELATIVELY IRREGULAR SPEEDS ABOUT A COMMON SHAFT Filed May 9, 1945 II I $2 E 3 I mvewroa 5mm SIIEl ro/v K le/Ir A I'TORIVEY Patented Feb. 10, 1948 OF FlCE DEVICE FOR WINDING A PLURALITY F LINES ATRELATIVEL'Y IRREGULAR SPEEDS' A'BOUI' A COMMON SHAFT Elmer Shelton Knight. CordovaBay, British Columbia, Canada Application- May 9, 1945,- Serial No. 592,887

3 Claims. (Cl..254184) My inventionarelates to an improvement in mechanical movementsrwhich. is adapted to move two or moreobiects atindetermin-ate speeds-one to the other.

Animated displays such as are; used in exhibitlons'or store windows for the purpose of attracting attention frequently fail in their. appeal due to the regularity :of relative movement between such tmovingfigures representing people or animale in the display, whereas if-all these figures could be made to move at totally indeterminate speed whereone may :nrst pass another and later lagbehind, the interestin the-display would be farmorelastlng; Other displays using transluoentscreens where: different coloured lights are flashed on and of! at predetermined intervals fail to attract attention for long on account of the regularity ofchange of the lighting effects;

The objects ofthe present invention are to provide means for moving figures alongdefined paths, or trippingswitches in a plurality of circuits inan irregular manner, so that infinite variety'of change iseffected in the display and the interest created by said display will be materially enhanced and prolonged.

The invention contemplates a plurality of reels adapted to be driven in unison, a flexible member attached" to each reel and a mechanism adapted to cause a variation t in the speed in which some of'the members are being wound upon their-reels during the rotation of said reels, as will be more fully described in the-following specification and shown in theaccompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. lis a sectional view of the invention showing it adaptation toananimated display device;

Fig.; 2 is "a planview of the invention.v

Field is a sectional view of the track alone which the flexible members are adapted to be drawn andthe' manner of'attaching a display figure to said members.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure,

The numeral l indicates a, horizontal panel or base of a display 2 which is mounted in front of a background 3 on which a suitable scene is displayed. At one end of the base I is a frame 4 consisting of side walls 5 suitably spaced apart. The frame will preferably be enclosed and so treated as to represent a building in keeping with the scene displayed upon the background, such as a barn or small building 1.

Mounted between the Walls 5 of the frame 4 are four shafts respectively numbered 9, II), II

i it "may berdriven froma suitable source of power.

AL plurality of guides 22: are slidably mounted upon'the. shaft l0. Theseguides consist of a sleeve 23 with spaced flanges .24'wh'ich are connected together with a pin 25 seta distance from the s1eeve23, so as to afford freepassage between saidsleeve-and pin of a flexible member or cord 21; In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, three spools l5 are shown and to each a cord is attached, for the purpose of identification these threecords vwill be referred to as 21A, 21B and 21C. 7

The base I is provided with parallel channels 28 which are aligned with the centre of the reels |6 to accommodatethe free end of the cords 21 and'figures 29, such as a girl and some ducks, are mounted on bases 30 and are preferably fitted on their rearsides with spring clips 3| forrattaching each of the figuresto their respective cords 21. It will be noted that each cord passes along its channel to apointadjacent the'frame 4 Where it is heldagainst lifting by a keeper 32, 'from thence it wouldnormally' extend in a straight lineto and around the shaft'9 forming a run E, thence-backto and around the sleeve 23 of a guide 22 forming a run F upon which it would be held against removal by the pin 25 and then pass to its aligned reel 16, forming a run G. Ifnothing were provided to interfere with the free running of the cords '21 from the platform to their respective reels IS, the runs E, F and G of each cord would lie in a single vertical plane and when all the reels were rotated in unison to wind up the cords the free ends of each or any figure or device attached to a cord would travel along the platform I at identical speed. I therefore provide the shaft II with free sliding and rotational movement between the walls 5 and provide a plurality of radial fingers 33 round about the shaft, each of which are capable of being brought into contact with a flange 24 of a guide 22 on the shaft l0. These radial fingers are spaced at regular degrees of angularity about the shaft and disposed longitudinally of the shaft at different distances apart to those of the reels 16, as for instance, where eight reels and cords are provided, nine or eleven sets of fingers 33 would be desirable, a set of fingers being assumed to be the number of adjacent fingers within 360 degrees or four as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The outer end of the shaft. H is provided with a knurled knob 34 for the purpose of imparting to said shaft both rotational and sliding movement.

The operation of the invention as applied to a display such as illustrated, the figures 29 would be drawn back to their starting point by any appropriate means and the shaft ll wouldbe rtated and moved endwise in any manner desired,

the movement being momentary or otherwisep The effect of the movement of the shaft l I would be to cause some of the guides 22 to be moved from their last position of rest upon the shaft Ill and throw the runs F and G of the cord'2l of each of said displacedguides out of substantial horizontal parallelism-with their runs E, so that when said cords are being wound about the shaft I2, it is possible for one to continue to wind onto its reel'lB and simultaneously for another to run off the side edge of its reel and wind onto the base of the groove I1, thus reducing the winding speed of said cord due to the reduced dimension of the part upon which it is winding. If a given guide is held against endwise movement of its shaft l0 and its cord, after feeding onto its reel, slides off onto the base of the adjacent groove, a disalignment will occur which may cause the line to wind back upon itself to correct the disalignment and start to climb back up on the sloping side wall of said groove towards its reel, in which case a cord willbe wound in a volute around said wall and will be moving inward at a progressively increasing speed over that which existed when winding-around the base of the groove.

It will be'obvious that the progression of the several cords will vary as their runs E, F and G diverge or converge horizontally in respect to the line of their channels and that due to the tendency of one coil being wound on a cylindrical surface towind in contact with the previous coil, so that the alignment of the runs E, F and G will be affected and the speed of travel of the cord be rendered totally indeterminate.. r I

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A mechanical movement comprising a plurality of winding drums all adapted to be rotated .in unison at predetermined peripheral speeds, said winding drums having winding areas of different diameters, a flexible member attached to each windng drum to bewound thereon,means spaced fromsaid drums for aligning the several flexible members onto their drums adjacent their point of attachment, a shaft extending across the flexible members and guides slidable along said shaft, each guide being engaged by one of the flexible members in the interspace between the aligning means and their drums, and slidable means fOr engaging some of the guides to move them lengthwise of the shaft and to disalign their attached flexible members to cause said members to wind upon different areas of their respective drums, said slidable means having a plurality of staggered fingers each adapted to be moved to contact one or more guides.

2. A mechanical movement comprising a shaft having a plurality of drums and a plurality of annular grooves between said drums, said drums and grooves being rotatable as a unit, the sides of the grooves being in the form of truncated cones, flexible members connected to some of said drums to be wound thereon, means for normally aligning said members at right angle to the drum shaft, a shaft parallel to the drum shaft and guides slidable upon said shaft, each of said guides being engaged by one of the flexible members between the aligning means and its drum, and slidable means for moving any of the guides to effect disalignment of its flexible member, whereby to cause said member to slip upon its adjacent cone, said slidable means having a plurality of staggered fingers, each adapted to engage one or more of the guides.

3. A mechanical movement comprising a shaft having a plurality of drums and a plurality of annular grooves between said drums, said drums and grooves being rotatable as a unit, the sides of the grooves being in the form of truncated cones, flexible members connected to some of said drums to be wound thereon, means for normally aligning said members at right angle to the drum shaft, a shaft parallel to the drum shaft and guides slidable upon said shaft, each of said guides being engaged by one of the flexible members between the aligning means, and its drum, and means for moving any of the guides to effect disalignment of its flexible member, said disaligning means consisting of a shaft mounted for sliding and rotational movement, said shaft having a plurality of fingers radially disposed to project into the path of the several guides, each of said guides having one or more finger engaging contacts.

ELMER SHELTON KNIGHT.

REFERENCES CITED 'The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENT Sharpenberg et a1. Dec. 5, 1922 

